In-tenancy rent increase measures implemented in Scotland

Measures relating to in-tenancy rent increases were implemented in Scotland from September 2022 to March 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics¹. The ONS states this in its September 2026 private rent and house prices bulletin, published on 16 September 2026, as background to how Scottish rent estimates should be read¹.

The same bulletin reports that the average monthly private rent in Scotland was £1,013 in August 2026, up by 1.1% (£11) from a year earlier, a lower annual rise than the 1.7% recorded in the 12 months to July 2026¹. Across the UK, average monthly private rent rose by 3.8% to £1,400 in the 12 months to August 2026, a provisional estimate and up from 3.7% in the 12 months to July 2026¹.

The ONS advises caution when comparing Scotland and Northern Ireland estimates with other UK countries because of data collection differences¹. It says that, historically, Scottish rent data used in the Price Index of Private Rents were mainly for advertised new lets, and that the Scottish Government has recently changed its data collection process, increasing its collection of achieved rents for both existing and new tenancies¹.

Rents by UK nation, as reported for the latest available month¹:

Within England, private rent annual inflation was highest in the North East and North West, both at 5.8%, and lowest in the South East at 3.0%, in the 12 months to August 2026¹. London's annual rent inflation rose to 3.5%, from 3.0% in the 12 months to July 2026¹. Average rent was highest in London at £2,332 and lowest in the North East at £788 in August 2026¹.

The bulletin does not set out the content of the Scottish measures, how they operated, or their effect on rents; those details are not reported in it¹. It also does not report what replaced them after March 2025¹.

Why it matters for households

For private tenants in Scotland, the ONS figures describe what happened to rents in the 12 months to August 2026, not what rules apply now. The bulletin records that in-tenancy rent increase measures ran from September 2022 to March 2025 and that this history should be borne in mind when reading Scottish estimates¹. Scottish rent inflation of 1.1% in the 12 months to August 2026 was below the UK rate of 3.8% and below England's 4.0% and Wales's 4.3%¹, though the ONS cautions that Scottish data have historically been drawn mainly from advertised new lets rather than achieved rents on existing tenancies, which limits like-for-like comparison with other nations¹.

Tenants elsewhere in the UK are affected differently: the England figure of £1,459 a month and the Wales figure of £846 a month are averages across all private tenancies in the PIPR stock measure, and Northern Ireland's £874 relates to advertised new lets up to June 2026¹. Anyone comparing what they pay with these averages is comparing against a national figure, not a local one; the ONS publishes local area rent and house price statistics separately¹.

What happens next

The next release of the bulletin is scheduled for 21 October 2026¹. UK rent estimates for the latest two months are provisional and subject to revision under the ONS two-month revision policy¹. PIPR data became official statistics on 20 May 2026 and are no longer considered to be in development¹.